Game On

Latest HBO Teaser Reveals New Game of Thrones Footage and Drops a Big Hint About Jon Snow

The first Game of Thrones Season 6 trailer hit the internet earlier this week. But while that video had no new footage, this new 2016 preview from HBO does! Along with tantalizing glimpses at other 2016 series both new (Divorce! Vice Principals!) and returning (Veep! Silicon Valley!), HBO gives us a few frames of some familiar Westerosi faces. We don’t know much, but we do know that Ramsay seems, as ever, battle ready. We also know that Daenerys forgot to pack her conditioner when she took off on Drogon last season . . .

But I know you’re not really here to talk about the blondes of Game of Thrones. When it comes to this show and hair, the real story is all about Kit Harington’s luscious locks. And while there may be no new footage of Jon Snow, we do get a pretty telling glimpse. More information on that after the spoiler warning.

The shot we get of Harington during the 2015 portion of this HBO clip seems to confirm the most popular theory about the return of Jon Snow. Right towards the start of the video we have the erstwhile Lord Commander lit by torchlight with a Melisandre voice over saying, “There’s power in you, do you feel it?” It’s something she said to Jon when trying to seduce him in episode 4 of Season 5. You can see it here around the 2:55 mark.

The most popular theory going about the return of Jon Snow is that Melisandre will use her powers to resurrect him. Her return to the Wall was awfully convenient, wasn’t it? We know that people who follow the Lord of Light, a.k.a. R’hllor, can bring people back from the dead. Back in Season 3, Melisandre met Thoros of Myr, a red priest who had resurrected his friend Beric Dondarrion several times. In the books, Thoros resurrects someone else important, but in the show’s narrative, it was necessary to establish that resurrections can and do happen in this universe. Melisandre looked rather scandalized by Thoros’s antics, but it’s a good thing the show went out of its way to link these two up (they don’t meet in the books) so we would know that Melisandre had this option in her back pocket. And, hey, her magic is running hot as she’s brimming with the power of Shireen’s royal blood.

Melisandre would want to bring Jon back because, now that Stannis is gone, she’s in search of a new chosen one to follow. (You can read all about that here.) That’s why juxtaposing Jon Snow’s face with these particular words from Melisandre is so significant. HBO knows exactly what it’s doing and could very well be messing with us, but it’s looking more and more likely that the Red Priestess will be the one to deliver Jon Snow back to the land of the living. Now all we have to do is wait.